Category Archives: Daily Devotions

Spending time with God and the Bible each day.

Prayer is the best way to start the day

The following is a quote from Robert Murray M’Cheyne:

“I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o’clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee’; ‘Thou shalt early hear my voice.’ Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.”

Prayer sets the direction for the day and lines up the day with God’s interests, God’s will and God’s purposes. Also consider the verse in
Psalms 88:13 But to You I have cried out, O LORD, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.  The morning time is the best time to get started with God.

Here’s another quote from Robert M’Cheyne “Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”

Read the Word Daily

So you are eager to study the Bible.  You have your good Bible translation in hand.  Now what?  Well, a good first place to start is a daily reading plan so you can begin to understand the big picture of God’s Word.  Daily reading plans are available from various sources, including Olive Tree to help you read through the entire Bible in a year.  Does reading through the entire Bible in a year sound like something you just don’t have the time for?  Do you realize that by committing yourself to reading the Bible twelve minutes a day you could accomplish just that?  That is just six minutes in the morning and six minutes in the afternoon.  Everyone has time for that. We all waste more time than that every day don’t we?  Just do it.  If you are not ready for that kind of plan, then consider reading just one chapter in the book of Proverbs every day for a month. There are thirty-one chapters in the book of Proverbs, so that would work out great.  Proverbs is filled with very practical information—wisdom from God that meets you where you are today.  Another excellent choice for Bible reading is the Gospel of John, especially if you are a fairly new believer and want to get to know your Savior better.  Even if you are an unbeliever, the Gospel of John is a good place for you to meet the Savior. John says he wrote his gospel that you might believe, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:30-31). If you are an unbeliever, you won’t understand the Bible very well, but God will be more than gracious in helping you to understand what you need to know in order to believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. So to begin Bible study, get into the habit of just reading your Bible—regularly.